Gordon International Competition

Eligibility: Participation is by invitation only. GNCC clubs are invited through a process mandated by the Grand National Curling Club based on the number of adult male members of each club.

History

The Gordon International Competition was first held on February 8th, 1884 in Montreal between two rinks each from the United States and Canada, and was won by the Milwaukee Curling Club, 36-28. Thus began a long-standing friendly rivalry and fellowship between the Canadian Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club and the Grand National Curling Club. Each year, representatives of these curling or-ganizations compete for the Gordon International Medal, originally pre-sented by Mr. Robert Gordon of the St. Andrews Curling Club of New York. Mr. Gordon was born in Dumfries, Scotland on November 17, 1829, and came to New York in 1849.

The 2018 event marks the 135th year of the Gordon International Competition, and the 123rd time the competition has been held. The competition was not held in 1885-87 (smallpox epidemics), 1892-93, 1897-98 and 1902 (lack of ice), 1916-18 (World War I), and 1945 (World War II).

Until 1901, competitions were played with two rinks to each side. Today, matches are typically contested with 20 rinks per side playing two games each when held in the United States, or 20 American rinks playing two games each and 40 Canadian rinks playing one game each when held in Canada. The outcome of the match is determined by the total number of stones scored by each side in the two Gordon medal games. In the 122 prior competitions, the Canadians have won 92 matches, the Americans 30. The Americans won the Gordon Medal for the first time in 29 years in 2012, and the first time since 1969 away from home in Montreal. The American side won four of the last seven matches. Teams also typically compete in a series of friendly games prior to the main event. Last year in Montreal, three friendly games were contested by 20 rinks. The event will be split between Utica and Rochester in 2018.

Two other awards have been added to the Gordon International Competition over the years. In 1968, Addison Hastings of the Ardsley Curling Club presented the first Gordon Interna-tional Bowl—now the Add Hastings International Bowl—to the Canadian Branch of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. This award is given annually to the rink on either side that has the largest plus score in any single Gordon medal game.